Low Candidate Experience Rates Prevalent Amongst Job Applicants

A recent Talent Board study of 75,000 candidates found that job applicants want more simplicity and transparency during the application process. Below are several key statistics uncovered by the survey:

● 51% of job candidates rated their overall application experience from 1-3 on a scale of 5
● Nearly half of all respondents reported never receiving an update on the status of their application
● 55% of candidates said the application process took 30+ minutes to complete (12% saying it took longer than 60 minutes)

Application Processes Optimized for Recruiters Often Overlook the Candidate Experience

Madeline Laurano, co-founder at Aptitude Research Partners, addressed these findings, explaining that as the application process has transitioned online, the user experience of the applicant has become an afterthought. “The online application process was originally designed for the recruiter to help manage an influx of applicants. The candidates, on the other hand, find the process to be time-consuming and cumbersome. Not to mention, they often receive little to no communication about the status of their application throughout the process.” With the job market becoming increasingly competitive, it is vital that employers offer a satisfying application experience, otherwise, they could be driving away potentially qualified candidates.

1. Reduce Length and Complexity – Applicant drop-off rates rise exponentially as the length and complexity of your application process increases. Many employers believe that a more complicated application may weed out underqualified employees, when in fact, such applications drive away most qualified candidates as well. Save the hard questions and scrutiny for the later rounds. Your initial application should be as simple as possible to ensure a satisfying candidate experience.

2. Implement Pipeline Management – Managing the flow of candidates through your recruiting funnel is essential for providing an enjoyable application experience. Knowing which stage of the pipeline your candidates fall within enables you to understand the flow of your application process. This empowers you to identify any potential drop-off points and quickly generate solutions. Having systems in place that enable you to measure your recruiting analytics helps with this immensely.

3. Increase Communication – Currently, poor communication is the biggest pain point amongst job applicants. With the majority of hiring activities now being carried out online, applying for a job has lost much of the personal touch that it once had. Strong communication throughout your application process is an easy way to separate yourself from the competition and serves as a great way to encourage candidates forward through the pipeline.

4. Go Mobile – As mobile search continues to surpass search on personal computers, we are seeing a shift in the way that job candidates search for and apply to jobs. Job applicants have transitioned their searches to mobile devices and it is important that your application process is optimized for such behavior.

Several companies have already identified these areas for improvement and are taking steps to address them. AT&T is one such company that serves as a great case study on the importance of providing job candidates with a user-friendly application. After shortening their application from 75 questions to 31 (still quite lengthy in our opinion), and establishing a team to help manage the candidate pipeline through increased monitoring and status updates to customers, AT&T saw their applicant drop-off rate reduce by 15%. Furthermore, the simplified application also drove qualified candidates to apply who previously had chosen not to because of the length of the application.

Although implementing measures such as these may not be groundbreaking, simplifying your application process can be a daunting task. This is especially true if you do not already have systems in place that help you manage your recruiting pipeline. At Newton, we understand the value of simplicity and transparency. We were founded by leaders in the recruiting industry and we draw on this wealth of knowledge to drive the vision of our company.

Our fully-featured ATS empowers recruiters and hiring managers to take control of the entire recruiting life cycle. With advanced features such as mobile recruiting, Email templates, resume parsing, cloud apply, and interview scheduling, Newton allows you to simplify the application process for your candidates and easily communicate status updates to them. Furthermore with best-in-class workflows, dashboards and analytics you can easily track and manage the progress of candidates throughout the entire recruiting pipeline.

Simplify Your Hiring Process Today with Newton!

Stop losing qualified candidates due to burdensome applications. Increase your applicant to candidate conversion rates and create a candidate-first employment brand built on transparency and communication. Contact the Newton team and learn how we can simplify your hiring processes today!

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